Características de carcaça de ovinos e caprinos terminados em caatinga raleada e enriquecida com capim buffel (Cenchrus ciliaris L).

Abstract

The production of dry matter (DM) of native caatinga revolves around four tonnes / ha / year, but only 10 to 15% are available to animals. Moreover, most producers keep cattle, sheep and goats grazing the same area, a practice identified as responsible for the degradation of pasture. Accordingly, it is necessary to increase the carrying capacity of Caatinga in a sustainable manner, which may be possible with the enrichment and ralear with grasses, allowing about 80% of DM is accessible to animals, and thus improve animal performance with the taking of carcass and meat of sheep and goats of better quality, resulting in increase of revenue of the producer. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the carcass characteristics of sheep and goats finished in lower caatinga reseeding with buffel grass. During the slaughter of all animals were obtained the carcasses and their not constituents. After cooling for 24 hours, the carcasses were subjected to quantitative evaluations. The experimental design was completely randomized, with two treatments (goats and sheep) and twelve replicates (animals).